VOA慢速英语--珍稀海豚宝宝被自拍者“玩死”

AS IT IS 2016-02-20 Trending Today: Selfies Kill Rare Baby Dolphin 珍稀海豚宝宝被自拍者“玩死”

This is What's Trending Today.

The Franciscan or Plata River dolphin is a threatened species¹ that lives in the waters off the coasts of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

It is one of the smallest dolphins in the world, measuring only between 1.3 and 1.7 meters long. Their small size makes it easy for humans to approach them. The young dolphins are even smaller.

Photos came out recently showing people on a beach in Argentina, southeast of Buenos Aires, taking photos with two of these small dolphins.

At least one of them died, says Vida Silvestre, a wildlife foundation² in Argentina.

People passed the dolphins around, taking photos. One of the dolphins eventually died because of dehydration³.

Dolphins cannot survive very long without being in the water.

Even through dolphins are mammals and breathe air, they must be in water so their body temperature does not get too high.

Vida Silvestre says it is likely there are fewer than 30,000 of these dolphins alive. The major threat to the dolphins are fishing nets, not people. But on this day, people caused a death. And on social media, people are furious⁴.

Their reactions are similar to what happened last year when the news came out that Cecil the Lion was killed in Zimbabwe. An American hunter killed the protected lion.

The people on the beach are being called “morons⁵,” and being accused of having “no brains.” One person said she was “absolutely raging⁶.”

Here are some of the photos of the scene, and the comments people posted when hearing the news.

One person offered an idea for how to punish the beach-goers.

“Pass them around amongst⁷ ourselves until they also die.”

Words in This Story

scene – n. the place of an event or action

morons – n. a very stupid or foolish person

dehydrate⁸ – v. to lose too much water, become dry

raging – v. to have a strong feeling of anger that is difficult to control

furious – adj. very angry

mammal – n. a type of animal that feeds milk to its young and that usually has hair or fur covering most of its skin

1 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

2 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

3 dehydration   

n.脱水，干燥

参考例句：

• He died from severe dehydration.他死于严重脱水。
• The eyes are often retracted from dehydration.眼睛常因脱水而凹陷。

4 furious   

adj.狂怒的，暴怒的，强烈的，激烈的

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• His wife was furious with him.他妻子对他大发雷霆。

5 morons   

傻子( moron的名词复数 )； 痴愚者（指心理年龄在8至12岁的成年人）

参考例句：

• They're a bunch of morons. 他们是一群蠢货。
• They're a load of morons. 他们是一群笨蛋。

6 raging   

a.violent;furious

参考例句：

• Firemen tried to quench the flames raging through the building. 消防队员奋力扑救大楼中熊熊的火焰。
• The stream had become a raging torrent. 小溪变成了一条汹涌的急流。

7 amongst   

prep.在…之中，在...之间(=among)

参考例句：

• He was sitting amongst a group of children,telling them a story.他正坐在一群孩子中间讲故事。
• You must settle the matter amongst yourselves.你们必须彼此商量，自行解决这些问题。

8 dehydrate   

vt.使脱水

参考例句：

• People can very quickly dehydrate in the desert.人在沙漠里很快就会脱水。
• Without these structures, many warm-blooded animals would quickly dehydrate,especially in dry climates.没有这样的结构，许多温血动物将很快脱水，特别是在干燥的气候条件下。